a contributor's transactions in the underlying market that a benchmark intends to measure or, if not sufficient, its transactions in related markets, such as:
the unsecured inter-bank deposit market,
other unsecured deposit markets, including certificates of deposit and commercial paper, and
other markets such as overnight index swaps, repurchase agreements, foreign exchange forwards, interest rate futures and options, provided that those transactions comply with the input data requirements in the code of conduct;
a contributor's observations of third party transactions in the markets described in point (a);
committed quotes;
indicative quotes or expert judgements.
In particular, input data may be adjusted by application of the following criteria:
proximity of transactions to the time of provision of the input data and the impact of any market events between the time of the transactions and the time of provision of the input data;
interpolation or extrapolation from transactions data;
adjustments to reflect changes in the credit standing of the contributors and other market participants.
the administrator of an interest rate benchmark shall have in place an independent oversight committee. Details of the membership of that committee shall be made public, along with any declarations of any conflict of interest and the processes for election or nomination of its members;
the oversight committee shall hold no less than one meeting every four months and shall keep minutes of each such meeting;
the oversight committee shall operate with integrity and shall have all of the responsibilities provided for in Article 5(3).
The oversight committee may require an external audit of a contributor to an interest rate benchmark if dissatisfied with any aspects of its conduct.
an outline of responsibilities within each firm, including internal reporting lines and accountability, including the location of submitters and managers and the names of relevant individuals and alternates;
internal procedures for sign-off of contributions of input data;
disciplinary procedures in respect of attempts to manipulate, or any failure to report, actual or attempted manipulation by parties external to the contribution process;
effective conflicts of interest management procedures and communication controls, both within contributors and between contributors and other third parties, to avoid any inappropriate external influence over those responsible for submitting rates. Submitters shall work in locations physically separated from interest rate derivatives traders;
effective procedures to prevent or control the exchange of information between persons engaged in activities involving a risk of conflict of interest where the exchange of that information may affect the benchmark data contributed;
rules to avoid collusion among contributors, and between contributors and the benchmark administrators;
measures to prevent, or limit, any person from exercising inappropriate influence over the way in which persons involved in the provision of input data carries out those activities;
the removal of any direct link between the remuneration of employees involved in the provision of input data and the remuneration of, or revenues generated by, persons engaged in another activity, where a conflict of interest may arise in relation to those activities;
controls to identify any reverse transaction subsequent to the provision of input data.
all relevant aspects of contributions of input data;
the process governing input data determination and the sign-off of input data;
the names of submitters and their responsibilities;
any communications between the submitters and other persons, including internal and external traders and brokers, in relation to the determination or contribution of input data;
any interaction of submitters with the administrator or any calculation agent;
any queries regarding the input data and their outcome of those queries;
sensitivity reports for interest rate swap trading books and any other derivative trading book with a significant exposure to interest rate fixings in respect of input data.
all criteria and procedures that are used to develop the benchmark, including how the administrator uses input data including the specific volume, concluded and reported transactions, bids, offers and any other market information in its assessment or assessment time periods or windows, why a specific reference unit is used, how the administrator collects such input data, the guidelines that control the exercise of judgement by assessors and any other information, such as assumptions, models or extrapolation from collected data that are considered in making an assessment;
procedures and practices that are designed to ensure consistency between its assessors in exercising their judgement;
the relative importance that shall be assigned to each criterion used in benchmark calculation, in particular the type of input data used and the type of criterion used to guide judgement so as to ensure the quality and integrity of the benchmark calculation;
criteria that identify the minimum amount of transaction data required for a particular benchmark calculation. If no such threshold is provided for, the reasons why a minimum threshold is not established shall be explained, including setting out the procedures to be used where no transaction data exist;
criteria that address the assessment periods where the submitted data fall below the methodology's recommended transaction data threshold or the requisite administrator's quality standards, including any alternative methods of assessment including theoretical estimation models. Those criteria shall explain the procedures to be used where no transaction data exist;
criteria for timeliness of contributions of input data and the means for such contributions of input data whether electronically, by telephone or otherwise;
criteria and procedures that address assessment periods where one or more contributors submit input data that constitute a significant proportion of the total input data for that benchmark. The administrator shall also define in those criteria and procedures what constitutes a significant proportion for each benchmark calculation;
criteria according to which transaction data may be excluded from a benchmark calculation.
the rationale for adopting a particular methodology, including any price adjustment techniques and a justification of why the time period or window within which input data is accepted is a reliable indicator of physical market values;
the procedure for internal review and approval of a given methodology, as well as the frequency of such review;
the procedure for external review of a given methodology, including the procedures to gain market acceptance of the methodology through consultation with users on important changes to their benchmark calculation processes.
advance notice in a clear time frame that gives users sufficient opportunity to analyse and comment on the impact of such proposed changes, having regard to the administrator's calculation of the overall circumstances;
for users' comments, and the administrator's response to those comments, to be made accessible to all market users after any given consultation period, except where the commenter has requested confidentiality.
specify the criteria that define the physical commodity that is the subject of a particular methodology;
give priority to input data in the following order, where consistent with its methodologies:
concluded and reported transactions;
bids and offers;
other information.
If concluded and reported transactions are not given priority, the reasons should be explained, as required in point 7(b).
employ sufficient measures designed to use input data submitted and considered in a benchmark calculation which are bona fide, meaning that the parties submitting the input data have executed, or are prepared to execute, transactions generating such input data and the concluded transactions were executed at arms-length from each other and particular attention shall be paid to inter-affiliate transactions;
establish and employ procedures to identify anomalous or suspicious transaction data and keep records of decisions to exclude transaction data from the administrator's benchmark calculation process;
encourage contributors to submit all of their input data that falls within the administrator's criteria for that calculation. Administrators shall seek, so far as they are able and is reasonable, to ensure that input data submitted is representative of the contributors' actual concluded transactions; and
employ a system of appropriate measures to ensure that contributors comply with the administrator's applicable quality and integrity standards for input data.
a concise explanation, sufficient to facilitate a benchmark subscriber's or competent authority's ability to understand how the calculation was developed including, at a minimum, the size and liquidity of the physical market being assessed (such as the number and volume of transactions submitted), the range and average volume and range and average of price, and indicative percentages of each type of input data that have been considered in a calculation; terms referring to the pricing methodology shall be included such as transaction-based, spread-based or interpolated or extrapolated; and
a concise explanation of the extent to which, and the basis upon which, any judgement including the exclusions of data which otherwise conformed to the requirements of the relevant methodology for that calculation, basing prices on spreads or interpolation, extrapolation, or weighting bids or offers higher than concluded transactions, if any, was used in any calculation.
specify the criteria that define who may submit input data to the administrator;
have in place quality control procedures to evaluate the identity of a contributor and any submitter who reports input data and the authorisation of such submitter to report input data on behalf of a contributor;
specify the criteria applied to employees of a contributor who are permitted to submit input data to an administrator on behalf of a contributor; encourage contributors to submit transaction data from back office functions and seek corroborating data from other sources where transaction data is received directly from a trader; and
implement internal controls and written procedures to identify communications between contributors and assessors that attempt to influence a calculation for the benefit of any trading position (whether of the contributor, its employees or any third party), attempt to cause an assessor to violate the administrator's rules or guidelines or identify contributors that engage in a pattern of submitting anomalous or suspicious transaction data. Those procedures shall include, to the extent possible, provision for escalation of the inquiry by the administrator within the contributor's company. Controls shall include cross-checking market indicators to validate submitted information.
adopt and have in place explicit internal rules and guidelines for selecting assessors, including their minimum level of training, experience and skills, as well as the process for periodic review of their competence;
have in place arrangements to ensure that calculations can be made on a consistent and regular basis;
maintain continuity and succession planning in respect of its assessors in order to ensure that calculations are made consistently and by employees who possess the relevant levels of expertise; and
establish internal control procedures to ensure the integrity and reliability of calculations. At a minimum, such internal controls and procedures shall require the ongoing supervision of assessors to ensure that the methodology was properly applied and procedures for internal sign-off by a supervisor prior to releasing prices for dissemination to the market.
all input data;
the judgements that are made by assessors in reaching each benchmark calculation;
whether a calculation excluded a particular transaction which otherwise conformed to the requirements of the relevant methodology for that calculation, and the rationale for doing so;
the identity of each assessor and of any other person who submitted or otherwise generated any of the information in points (a), (b) or (c).
ensure that benchmark calculations are not influenced by the existence of, or potential for, a commercial or personal business relationship or interest between the administrator or its affiliates, its personnel, clients, any market participant or persons connected with them;
ensure that personal interests and business connections of the administrator's personnel are not permitted to compromise the administrator's functions, including outside employment, travel, and acceptance of entertainment, gifts and hospitality provided by the administrator's clients or other commodity market participants;
ensure, in respect of identified conflicts, appropriate segregation of functions within the administrator by way of supervision, compensation, systems access and information flows;
protect the confidentiality of information submitted to or produced by the administrator, subject to the disclosure obligations of the administrator;
prohibit managers, assessors and other employees of the administrator from contributing to a benchmark calculation by way of engaging in bids, offers and trades on either a personal basis or on behalf of market participants; and
effectively address any identified conflict of interest which may exist between the administrator's provision of a benchmark (including all employees who perform or otherwise participate in benchmark calculation responsibilities), and any other business of the administrator.
that the administrator satisfactorily implements the requirements of this Regulation; and
that responsibilities are clearly defined and do not conflict or cause a perception of conflict.
subscribers of the benchmark may submit complaints on whether a specific benchmark calculation is representative of market value, proposed benchmark calculation changes, applications of methodology in relation to a specific benchmark calculation and other editorial decisions in relation to the benchmark calculation processes;
there is in place a target timetable for the handling of complaints;
formal complaints made against the administrator and its personnel are investigated by that administrator in a timely and fair manner;
the inquiry is conducted independently of any personnel who may be involved in the subject of the complaint;
the administrator aims to complete its investigation promptly;
the administrator advises the complainant and any other relevant parties of the outcome of the investigation in writing and within a reasonable period;
there is recourse to an independent third party appointed by the administrator. if a complainant is dissatisfied with the way a complaint has been handled by the relevant administrator or the administrator's decision in the situation no later than six months from the time of the original complaint; and
all documents relating to a complaint, including those submitted by the complainant as well as an administrator's own record, are retained for a minimum of five years.